Lesley Ann Warren
Birthday: 16 August 1946, New York City, New York, USA
Height: 173 cm
Lesley Ann Warren started gearing towards a life in show business right off the bat as a child ballerina; little did she know that Hollywood stardom would arrive on her doorstep in the form of a " ...Show More
[on The Happiest Millionaire (1967))] I was a baby; I think I was 18, or maybe 18 and a half. I had Show more
[on The Happiest Millionaire (1967))] I was a baby; I think I was 18, or maybe 18 and a half. I had just done Cinderella (1965), and I was touring a Broadway show. I had been asked to come out and do a screen test, which, in those days, was a real screen test. They put me up at the Beverly Hills Hotel for two weeks. I had rehearsals, I had to do costume fittings and hair consultations and makeup, etc. Then at the end, you do this full on-screen test, with dance numbers and musical numbers and acting scenes in costume. Getting that job, that wonderful role and incredible experience, was just a huge accomplishment for me. I got to know Walt Disney; he was very much present. This is a man who knew what hair ribbon I was wearing, as well as what they were serving at the commissary, as well as what the animators were doing. He was a genius, and he had such vision, such a hands-on approach to everything. So to be picked by him was such an unbelievable honor for me. Hide
When I went to do Joseph (1995), it was working with Ben Kingsley that reignited in me my passion fo Show more
When I went to do Joseph (1995), it was working with Ben Kingsley that reignited in me my passion for acting. He was so dedicated and so impassioned himself, that it reignited that in me. That was a tremendous blessing. Hide
[reflecting on her career] I have come far, but not far enough. It is still a man's world.
[reflecting on her career] I have come far, but not far enough. It is still a man's world.
[on landing Victor Victoria (1982)] I had my hair in braids and a baseball cap on and my agent at th Show more
[on landing Victor Victoria (1982)] I had my hair in braids and a baseball cap on and my agent at the time,Ron Meyer--who's now the head of Universal--called me and said, "You have to go in and meet Blake Edwards," and I said, "I can't! I have no makeup on." He said, "You have to. He's leaving for London tomorrow, you have to go meet him." So I went in, and we sat and talked for about 15 minutes, had a lot of laughs, and then he just said, "Do you want to do this role?" And I had not read the script, but I had seen Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) 11 times, and I had seen Pink Panther, and Days of Wine and Roses (1962) is a genius movie, so I said, "Yes, I want to work with you on whatever." And then I went home and read the script, and in the script Norma wasn't blonde, didn't have an accent and didn't have a dance number or a musical number. She was pretty much a classic chorine of the time. So I started to think about what I wanted to do with this role, and I made up this whole history for her. She grew up on the Lower East Side in a family of 14, and she had to yell to be heard. She worked at Woolworth's and read the movie magazines and wanted to look like Jean Harlow. I created this character in my head, and then I called Blake--he was already in London--and he said, "Yes." He sent his hair and makeup people and the costume designer, Patricia Norris, over to my house, and we created this character. When I walked on the set in hair and makeup for the first time, I thought, "I'm either going to be fired, or he's gonna love it," and luckily for me, he loved it. For me, she was very real. That's why I did that fabricated history, to fool myself, so she was a real person and had a real background and real reasons why she behaved the way she did. It was all for me. I know that some people work differently, but I have to work from the inside out. It doesn't matter how big the character is, there has to be a truthful core. And that's how I was taught; I studied with Lee Strasberg in New York, and he was my teacher for ten years, so that's how I was trained, and that's what I know. On top of that, if you have comedic sensibilities, you intuitively know how to bring that forward on top of a real person. What Blake would do a lot with me was, he would let the cameras roll and I would improvise, so a lot of what's in the movie is improvised. But I couldn't do that improvisation successfully if I didn't know who she was on the inside, operating from a real core. Hide
Good work is good work wherever it is.
Good work is good work wherever it is.
[on making Songwriter (1984)] What happened on "Songwriter" was that I was doing that movie, but wit Show more
[on making Songwriter (1984)] What happened on "Songwriter" was that I was doing that movie, but with a different director. Sydney Pollack was producing, and I remember a week into shooting, I got a call from Sydney, and I thought, "Oh no. Oh dear." He said, "I want to tell you that we're replacing the director," and I said, "You're kidding, why?" He said, "They weren't happy with the way things look." I said, "Well, why not replace the cinematographer if you're not happy with how it looks?" He said, "Trust me, just trust me," and I said, "Well, who's directing?" And he said, "You'll see, you'll see . . . " And he surprised me with Alan Rudolph. It was really interesting, because from the first day of Alan's dailies, they looked extraordinary. So it's interesting how much impact a director will have on a cinematographer and the look of a film. It's definitely a collaborative situation . . . I was terrified, terrified in "Songwriter", because there I was, New York Jewish girl, singing country-western onstage with Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson. I mean, forget it. I was so terrified. Alan was amazing. He just kind of hand-held me during that entire experience. Hide
When I was a young girl, I had really long hair and I went to Jon Peters for the first time. He cut Show more
When I was a young girl, I had really long hair and I went to Jon Peters for the first time. He cut my hair within an inch of its life. I was traumatized! Hide
Your best is good enough. The only one you have to please is yourself.
Your best is good enough. The only one you have to please is yourself.
Trust your own instincts, go inside, follow your heart. Right from the start. go ahead and stand up Show more
Trust your own instincts, go inside, follow your heart. Right from the start. go ahead and stand up for what you believe in. As I've learned, that's the path to happiness. Hide
The truth is, I would do anything for Alan Rudolph. If he asked me to stand on my head and spit wood Show more
The truth is, I would do anything for Alan Rudolph. If he asked me to stand on my head and spit wooden nickels, I would. I love him. I loved working with him. I did two movies before with him [Choose Me (1984) and Songwriter (1984)], and they were some of the highlights of my working life. He's just an inspired guy and a great person to work with. Hide
I find that there are more interesting roles for women my age in the independent world, which is not Show more
I find that there are more interesting roles for women my age in the independent world, which is not to say that there aren't phenomenal roles in studio films, but 99% of the time they go to Meryl Streep or a very short list of women. Very short. And because they want to work as well as we all do, they take them. So now there's not a lot left over. Hide
I've been a character actress right from the beginning. I was no more like Cinderella in my real lif Show more
I've been a character actress right from the beginning. I was no more like Cinderella in my real life than I was like the neurotic poet in Cop (1988). Age has nothing to do with being the kind of actress who relies not on magnetic personality, but on disappearing into the person you're playing instead. For my money, Michelle Pfeiffer's a character actress--it's got nothing to do with looks, or age, or whether it's the leading role. Hide
[on Color of Night (1994)] That was a real heartbreaker. My participation was mostly in the scenes w Show more
[on Color of Night (1994)] That was a real heartbreaker. My participation was mostly in the scenes with the therapy group, and each of us was supposed to have had a relationship with the Jane March character. Our director, Richard Rush, struggled with what went on between Bruce Willis' character and Jane March's character, and how he had envisioned that to go. It was a tough film--it was tense, it was difficult. I think Jane was only 21. Even though she had done L'amant (1992), she was a young, young, young girl, and she had a lot of anxiety about doing all that nudity and all that erotic stuff. Even though she knew what she had signed on to do, it doesn't matter; somehow when you get to the point where you have to do it, it's a different experience. I remember one night when we were shooting our little love scene in somebody's house, and we were upstairs, shooting past the allotted time that the city had allowed us to shoot. I don't remember what that was, maybe 10 or 11. The police were called, and the crew just said, "Keep shooting, keep shooting! Keep kissing her, keep kissing her!" We're half-undressed, with these police officers coming up the stairs. "Keep shooting! Keep shooting!" It was a little crazy-making for sure, but exciting in a way. All the characters were so intense and neurotic in their own issues, and it was fraught with a lot of high anxiety just because of its material. Hide
Lesley Ann Warren's FILMOGRAPHY
All
as Actor (202)
Lesley Ann Warren'S roles
Joan Dunning
Miss Scarlet
Sophie Bremmer
Norma Cassady
Molly
Tina
Clara Jobs
Joan Holloway
Sondra
Lula Rogers
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